About the Book

The deeply personal story of a historic time in Chicago, Robert B. McKersie’s A Decisive Decadefollows the unfolding action of the Civil Rights Movement as it played out in the Windy City. McKersie’s participation as a white activist for black rights offers a unique, firsthand viewpoint on the debates, boycotts, marches, and negotiations that would forever change the face of race relations in Chicago and the United States at large.

Described within are McKersie’s intimate observations on events as they developed during his participation in such historic occasions as the impassioned marches for open housing in Chicago; the campaign to end school segregation under Chicago Schools Superintendent Benjamin Willis; Operation Breadbasket’s push to develop economic opportunities for black citizens; and dialogs with corporations to provide more jobs for blacks in Chicago. In addition, McKersie provides up close and personal descriptions of the iconic Civil Rights leaders who spearheaded some of the most formative battles of Chicago’s Civil Rights movement, including Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Reverend Jesse Jackson, Timuel Black Jr. and W. Alvin Pitcher. The author illumines the tensions experienced by two major institutions in responding to the demands of the civil rights movement: the university and the church. Packed with historical detail and personal anecdotes of these history-making years, A Decisive Decade offers a never-before-seen perspective on one of our nation’s most tumultuous eras. 

About the Author

Robert B. McKersie is Professor Emeritus of Management at the MIT Sloan School of Management. McKersie is an expert source on industrial and labor relations with a focus on bargaining. He researches strategies being pursued by different industries to bring about more effective organizational changes. McKersie is also the coauthor of A Behavioral Theory of Labor Negotiations (ILR Press,1991), Strategic Negotiations (Harvard Business School Press,1995), The Transformation of American Industrial Relations (Basic Books,1986), and Pay, Productivity, and Collective Bargaining (Macmillan,1983). 

READ INTERVIEW: "3Q: Robert McKersie on his civil rights memoir," MIT News, 28 August 2013

McKersie, Robert B. A Decisive Decade: An Insider’s View of the Chicago Civil Rights Movement during the 1960s. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 2013.